Managing rain-fed uplands of cascaded tank village systems: What stakeholders really suggest?

Abstract

CONTEXTAchieving land degradation neutrality through sustainable land management requires stakeholder collaboration. Understanding of stakeholders' worldviews facilitates fostering stakeholder collaboration. Reported lack of stakeholder collaboration in CTVS-related conservation and development programs may be due to stakeholders' competing worldviews and marginalizing primary stakeholders' viewpoints. OBJECTIVEThis study systematically investigates stakeholders' worldviews on sustainable management of the rain-fed uplands of CTVS. METHODSThe Q-Methodology was used with a Q set of 54 land management activities. Twenty-seven respondents with different expertise were given a forced-choice distribution grid (Q-sorts): an 11-point scale (ranging from −5 = least important I think to +5 most important I think) to rank the Q-Set. Using the principal component analysis with varimax rotation in Ken-Q Analysis Desktop Edition Q sorts were analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSStakeholders' worldviews towards sustainable rain-fed uplands are four-fold (extension-driven approaches, community-driven approaches, solution-based approaches and punitive control approaches), based on power and facilitation and irrespective of their social backgrounds. Many worldviews do not compete and can facilitate stakeholder collaboration, whereas the worldview that relies on coercion to achieve conservation behavior may be a potential bottleneck for stakeholder reconciliation. SIGNIFICANCEThis study has demonstrated how useful it is to utilize a systematic investigation to understand stakeholders' worldviews towards conservation solutions. As a result, it facilitates exploring challenges and opportunities by policymakers to facilitate cooperation between stakeholders while avoiding bottlenecks to achieve sustainable management of rain-fed uplands in CTVS.